In This Months Edition
FEATURE INTERVIEW: Greg CarpenterAt this time of year, no person comes under more scrutiny than the Melbourne Cup Handicapper. In this issue of InForm, AAP Racing Manager Peter Klein talks with Racing Victoria's Chief Handicapper, Greg Carpenter about the process of handicapping and his thoughts on this year's foreign raiders."My job is to give as many horses nominated for a race an opportunity to win while still providing the best horse in the race a winning chance." Greg Carpenter, Chief Handicapper RVL
 Photo Credit: Racing Victoria I grew up in a country town in Western Australia called Albany and went to the races there as a very young child. My father worked in betting shops in his youth and was a keen form student and my uncle was a country trainer who had a few horses in work each racing season. As a young boy I did phantom calls and absorbed as much as I could about racing, as I did all sports. In my last year of primary school, so I was 12, I made the final of a State Public Speaking competition and not surprisingly the topic of my speech was The Melbourne Cup. I worked in my uncle's stables until I left Albany as a 17yo to play football in Perth, so I was always at the races, around horses and following the form in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney very closely from the age of about ten. And when did you first get involved in handicapping? My first job was as the junior in the racing office of the Western Australian Turf Club in 1981 and within a year I was training as a cadet Handicapper and doing race meetings at outback meetings in the remote areas of WA. I progressed to the position of Chief Handicapper in Perth in 1990 before taking up the same role in Singapore and Malaysia in 1995. To the average racegoer, the art of handicapping is a mysterious process. What is the objective/role of the handicapper in simple terms? The mystery surrounding handicapping has greatly diminished since ratings based handicapping was introduced in Australia two years ago. I have always used an internal rating system when handicapping since I started in 1982, as many other handicappers have done. Those ratings are now available to all participants in the industry and the level of understanding of handicapping methodology and process has been greatly enhanced. The process of handicapping has become extraordinarily transparent. It is still subject to the handicapper's opinion, but industry participants are now able to follow the decision making process and hold us accountable for the decisions we make about their horses. The rules of racing define a "Handicap" as "a race in which the weights the horses are to carry are allocated according to the judgment of the person appointed to frame the handicap upon the merits of the horses for the purpose of equalizing their chances of winning. My own view of that is my job is to give as many horses nominated for a race an opportunity to win while still providing the best horse in the race a winning chance. Beyond that principal function our role is to assist owners and trainers in maximizing the return they get from their considerable financial and emotional investment in the industry. We do that by providing an important resource to them so they can best place their horse for maximum return. Is it a mechanical/mathematical process, or a personal assessment of how each horse's weight is arrived at? There are very clear guidelines in place that handicappers adhere to as far as how they penalize horses for winning and how they provide relief to horses that do not win. These guidelines hopefully deliver consistency to what we do, but are always tempered by the individual circumstance of each run and mindful of the overall performance profile of each horse. You have a team of 3 handicappers working for you? How do you divide your staff's duties? In Victoria, as in most other states now, the duties are divided into specific age and distance categories. This allows each handicapper to become thoroughly familiar with those horses he is dealing with on a weekly basis. I am extremely fortunate to have an experienced and hard working team with me at RVL in Alan Painter, Neil Jennings, David Hegan and Rebecca Schlosmacher, who are committed to providing the Victorian Racing Industry with the best service we can deliver. What are the attributes of a good handicapper? This is probably best for others to judge but I generally use the analogy of the sporting referee. If you go to an AFL match and all you remember are the high marks, the great goals and the star players and can't even recall who was umpiring (and I often can't), then they have done a great job. It is similar with the handicapper, although the necessity to educate and explain decisions to industry participants and the general public often require us to be visible particularly around carnival times. Greg, many trainers and owners complain when they think their horse has been 'crucified'. On balance, the handicapper is proven correct in most instances. What are some of the more common misunderstandings that people have when they think their horse has been unfairly treated? The general rule of thumb has always been the weaker the opposition, the bigger the weight. Even those that follow the ratings and our weights template closely are sometimes surprised when they get 58kg in a race and expected 56kg. This is the most common query we receive, however the simple answer is in Victoria the rules of racing dictate the top weight at time the handicaps are declared cannot be less than 58kg. If your horse is the best horse nominated, it will get 58kg, even though in a normal strength race for that class your true weight was 56kg. The weight reflects the strength of entry and of course the weights of every horse go up 2kg as well. It's sometimes said that "A horse has beaten the handicapper." Is there any truth to this? Can a horse beat the handicapper, or is it more a case of a horse improving after it has been weighted? The handicapper can only assess a horse on the exposed form at the time weights are declared. The expression "beat the handicapper" doesn't offend me in any sense. The conditions of the cups allows a horse to tread a path once the weights are released that does not allow the handicapper to re-assess them on the way through and a classic example of this was Let's Elope in 1991. Last year El Segundo and Leica Falcon "beat the handicapper" and this year it was Sphenophyta and Growl. At the end of the day none of them could convert being well weighted to actually winning the grand prize. The downside of course is a horse with little exposed form has to produce a peak performance and win a specific race somewhere before grand final day to ensure you beat the ballot as well as the handicapper. Why is it that there are different top weight and minimum weight limits in the different states - can't we have a national formula? The good news is that as of 1 January 2007, an Australian Rule of Racing will ensure the minimum weight in the various categories of races will be the same across Australia. In addition the rule will also deliver national consistency with the declared top weight when handicaps are issued and at acceptance time. How does Australia's present 'class system' compare with other racing countries? Has the industry got it right? The ratings based handicapping system that has now been embraced nationally and the imminent introduction of races which group horses, together based on ratings and not historical wins (as is the case with our current class system) fits nicely with the class system used in most other jurisdictions around the world, with the exception of the Americas. It's a very good system and a further improvement to the class system that has served us so well since 1989. I have had the benefit of working for five years in Singapore and Malaysia, and have traveled to most racing countries around the world. No system is perfect, each has characteristics which prevent it being all things to all people, but I'm confident we get closer with each step forward. What is ratings based handicapping and how does it work? Each horse has a rating which reflects current form as well as its overall performance profile. In simple terms that rating then relates to a specific weight in each class of race. Have you ever seen any mistakes made in handicapping, where a horse got too much or too little weight? When they do occur it is generally in set weight penalty races or by reason of clerical error. The rules of racing have been amended in the last decade to allow these to be rectified at any time prior to the race. In handicap races there is always diverse opinion and I don't take the view that the handicapper is always right. I encourage industry participants to discuss their views with me, particularly if it is different to mine. We can only learn and grow by considering the views of others and then making a balanced judgment as to whether our own view should be modified because of it. What is the best horse you've seen? I don't like comparing horses of different generations. There are a number of horses that I feel privileged to have seen race. My greatest praise is reserved for Northerly. They say Phar Lap gave hope and inspiration to a nation that could find little elsewhere. Northerly also was a horse for the times. He came along at the right time for the WA Racing Industry and in many ways his rise to greatness ignited the amazing renaissance that has happened in my home state over the last six years. I had only just come back from working overseas when he won his first Australian Cup and was then spelled. Prior to him resuming in the Goodwood at Belmont in August 2001, I put out a media statement on behalf of Perth Racing telling the WA community if they had only heard of Phar Lap, Rising Fast or Tulloch and never had the privilege of seeing them in the flesh, come to Belmont because you will see a horse (Northerly) that will one day be worthy of mention in the same breath. He went very close. I was fortunate to see Kingston Town race once. It was his last race start winning the WFA race at Ascot against an outstanding field. Vo Rogue was another basing his greatness on sustained speed and stamina. And Makybe Diva will forever live in my memory not only for her historic third Cup win but also her remarkable victory in the 2005 Cox Plate. One of the most important tasks you face each year is the handicapping of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup fields. How do you prepare for this task? The process for me begins the moment the field crosses the line the previous year. I go through the performance of each runner and consider where I might have them the following year. By May I have a draft set of weights I am working with. Most Australian horses don't race beyond the Sydney autumn carnival prior to the handicaps being declared in early September. I divide the horses into four categories. Those that raced in the cups of the previous year, the 3yo's of the previous season that have raced in the classics and come into the cups as 4yo's, the genuine handicappers that have contested the 3200m races in Australia and New Zealand and finally the international entries. It is then a case of marrying each of these different groups together. Entries close on 1 August and the handicaps are released in early September. What are your thoughts on the strength of some of the lead up races to the Melbourne Cup - what races should punters take note of? The Metropolitan winner has gone on to win the Caulfield Cup last year and again this year. The Caulfield Cup always provides, I think, the best guide to the Melbourne Cup and it isn't difficult to imagine a horse who races well in that race can hold the form through to the Melbourne Cup 17 days later. What sort of penalties do you generally give to winners of these lead up races for the Melbourne Cup? Once the handicaps are released for any race (including the Cups) a horse cannot be penalized unless it wins. i.e. place getters in lead up races cannot be penalized. The conditions of both Cups outline which races make their winner eligible for a penalty. In the last two years the winner of the Metropolitan has received a 1.0kg penalty in both Cups and in both years the winner of the Caulfield Cup has received a 2.0kg penalty going into the Melbourne up. With the imported horses, how do you go about allocating weights for these horses? Is it more difficult than assessing local horses? In any circumstance the more you know about a horse the more comfortable you are with your assessment of their ability. With the overseas horses the starting point is their international rating. I then need to understand their overall performance profile and understand how those ratings have been derived before determining the weight I will finally give them. It certainly is a different process to the locals but not necessarily a more difficult one. And what is your opinion of some the foreign raiders this year? Yeats was recognized as a horse of great talent in his 3yo season and was at one time heading the pre-post market for the English Derby before his season was ended prematurely through injury. Two years later he has fulfilled much of that promise becoming the dominant stayer of the English summer this season. His Irish St Leger defeat may have tempered the confidence of some of his fans, but if he is at the peak of his powers on Cup day he can go very close despite conceding significant weight to all his rivals. Grey Swallow won the Irish Derby in his 3yo season and was able to garner a Group I win as a 4yo in 2005. He raced very well in the US in the first half of 2006. He comes to new surroundings and training methods but he is a quality middle distance performer who has looked a genuine athlete in his public gallops since arriving. The performances of Eye Popper in 2005 gave me significant assistance in assessing the form of Delta Blues and Pop Rock. The latter is a progressive stayer, having won four on end culminating in a Group II win defeating Eye Popper with the assistance of 3.5kg in weight. His luckless run in the Caulfield Cup was outstanding and if he backs up and holds his form on Cup day he will again be right in the finish. His stable mate Delta Blues produced a slashing Cup trial caught wide and continuing to come on despite being under pressure finishing less than a length from Tawqeet. He won the Japanese St Leger in his 3yo season and has won to 3600m so the extra distance will not be of any concern. My colleagues in Japan rate him their third best stayer behind Deep Impact and Hearts Cry and both of them are world class. Racing Review & PreviewSydney's spring carnival culminated with the running of the Epsom Hcp, Metropolitan Hcp, Flight Stakes and Spring Champion Stakes held on 7 October. Who would have thought just a month later, Metropolitan winner Tawqeet would have added the Caulfield Cup to his record and be outright favourite for the Melbourne Cup? But such is the dominance of the David Hayes stable that anything is possible.It's rare to find an Epsom favourite starting at $1.70. But Racing to Win, who started at those prohibitive odds, won like an odds on pop should. He's all class this fellow and punters were eagerly awaiting his Melbourne debut in the W S Cox Plate. Racing to Win subsequently failed in that race, but was later found to have pulled up sore in the near foreleg. Let's hope for racing's sake that he comes back OK after a spell. The Spring Champion Stakes should perhaps be renamed the Anthony Cummings Stakes, after Anthony snared it two years running with Hotel Grand in 2005 and Teranaba this year. A couple of runners from this race are aiming for bigger things, noticeably Tuesday Joy who is the early VRC Oaks favourite and Get Square who will be tackling the VRC Derby. Caulfield Guineas day saw that wonderful combination of Bart Cummings and Dato Tan Chin Nam team up with Wonderful World. The horse seems to save his best for the Melbourne tracks and won this G1 race easily from Excites and Court Command. On the same day, short priced favourite El Segundo shocked punters by being beaten into 3rd place in the Yalumba Stks. The other G1 event of the day, The Toorak Hcp, was taken out in fine style by the Mick Price trained Red Dazzler. On Caulfield Cup day, it was Tawqeet who proved that his Metropolitan win was no fluke by charging home to win the Cup at 16/1 by a long neck from Aqua D 'Amore and Delta Blues. The Caulfield Cup is considered to be the strongest form race going into the Melbourne Cup and there weren't many stronger performances than the winner. Last week's W S Cox Plate had everything didn't it? Imported horses starting first up. Three year old fillies trying to break 30 year old hoodoos. Oh and did I mention nine year old crocks lining up for their fifth consecutive start in the race? The evergreen Fields of Omagh took out this year's event in what surely must go down as one the most memorable Cox Plates ever. He first contested the Plate in 2002, won it the following year, finished 2nd in 2004, and ran 3rd in 2005 before saluting the judge last week. Just goes to show it's an old dog for a hard road. 'FOO' is headed for the retirement paddock at Woodlands Historic Park, the new international home of rest for champion horses. Next Tuesday it's the Cup that stops the nation. Won't be as easy to tip without Makybe Diva going around, but AAP's selections are:
Good luck and good punting! Sports Review & PreviewAustralian sport is currently obsessed with the first Tuesday in November, but as soon as the Melbourne Cup is over that focus will shift to the Ashes.The much-anticipated cricket series between Australia and England doesn't begin until the first Test starts in Brisbane on November 23, but the action really gets underway much earlier. The English team arrives on Sunday November 5 and plays its first match against the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra on November 10. The tourists also play NSW at the SCG from November 12-14 and South Australia at the Adelaide Oval from November 17-19 before heading north to Brisbane. All matches will be keenly observed by cricket fans wanting to assess the form of Andrew "Freddy" Flintoff and the ability of the English pace bowlers to extract reverse swing in Australian conditions. The Australian team, fresh from the Champions Trophy final in India, will be out to make amends for losing the 2005 series in England - the only blip in the past 20 years of Ashes dominance. Also looking to make amends is the Australian rugby league team. They've beaten New Zealand twice already but face Great Britain in two Tests in November (the 4th and 18th) ahead of the Tri-Nations final in Sydney on November 25. New Zealand beat Australia to win the series in the UK last year, and the Kangaroos are hoping to regain their place as the world's premier league team. Meanwhile in Europe the Wallabies will also be searching for redemption. Beaten by a Welsh provincial side at the start of the tour, Australian Rugby coach John Connolly is yet to have a win away from home. He'll be looking for a vast improvement in the crucial Tests in November against Wales (November 4), Italy (November 11), Ireland (November 18) and Scotland (November 25). Also overseas is the Australian International Rules team which lost the first Test against Ireland and will be hoping to turn the result around in the re-match in Dublin on November 5. And the Socceroos will take on Ghana in London on November 14 in a bid to give the overseas-based players a chance to wear the green and gold and keep in touch with the rest of the team ahead of next year's Asian Cup. The other big international event in November will be the Australian Open Golf at Royal Sydney from November 16-19. For the first time in a long time nearly all the top Australians will face each other on home soil including reigning US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and long-time stalwart Greg Norman. And Australia will get the chance to reflect on past sporting glory when the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games is celebrated on November 22. The city is planning a series of events to mark the occasion with many of the golden greats of Australian sport including Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, Betty Cuthbert and John Landy to be recognised. Looking back at October with misty eyes at Brisbane's NRL grand final victory, we should also pause to remember another sporting highlight - was Craig Lowndes emotional victory at Bathurst. The former Holden driver and Peter Brock protege steered Ford to its first victory on the mountain in seven years and was overcome as he paid tribute to the recently departed Brock. Written by Mike Osborne, Head of Sport and Racing Spot the ball  Can you spot the ball? If you can, there's a $100 free bet to be won with betting agency and spot the ball sponsor, Betezy. To play, simply locate the square that contains the centre of the ball. Email your chosen grid reference (eg, F32) to bobrien@aap.com.au with 'Spot The Ball' in the subject line, along with your full name and contact phone number. The first correct entry to be received by AAP Racing will be declared the winning entry. Conditions of entry:
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 60 seconds with Chris Munce Photo Credit: Steve Hart Photographics An uncle of mine introduced me to Eric Kirwan in Brisbane, who I was apprenticed to. 2. Any superstitions on raceday or before a race? Never. Every day's a new day. 3. The best jockey you've ridden against and why? Christophe Soumillon in Hong Kong. Great balance. Aggressive and he's just a superstar. 4. Having already accomplished so much in racing, are there any goals you still wish to achieve? Would be nice to win a Caulfield Cup to complete the "Grand Slam", and I wouldn't knock back another Melbourne Cup either! 5. After riding so many great horses, is there one that stands out in particular? If so, why? Probably Dance Hero. A star 2yo and everything put before him, he just handled with ease. 6. The best piece of advice you've ever received? No fancy jockey tricks. Let 'em run. 7. Away from racing and the racetrack, how do you enjoy your spare time? Spending time with the family at home, and supporting them in their interests. 8. How do you celebrate after a big race win? Usually by having dinner with close friends. 9. When the time comes, would you give consideration to a training career? Definitely consider it. It's possible. 10. Do you have a personal motto? Never die wondering. To find out more about Chris, his future riding commitments and achievements to date, visit his excellent website at www.chrismunce.com.au Melbourne Cup Quiz1. In what year did Empire Rose win the Cup?2. How many Cups did Vintage Crop compete in and what were his finishing positions? 3. Who was Bart Cummings' last Cup winner. 4. In what year was the first Cup run? 5. Which horses have won the Cup two or more times? 6. Who trained Makybe Diva to her first Melbourne Cup win? 7. The world renowned Godolphin stable has tried for several years now to win the Cup. To date their best results have been two seconds. Name the horses. 8. How many Melbourne Cups did Phar Lap compete in? 9. Master trainer George Hanlon has won the great race three times. Who were his winners and what years? 10. How much will the winning horse earn for connection in this year's Cup? How did you go? First Season Freshmans on fire!There is an old adage in the racing and breeding industry that champion racehorses make very good sires. And in this year's first season sires list, 2006 seems to be no different.In a season where the freshman sire list has horses names on it such as - Choisir, Johannesburg, Bel Esprit, Falvelon and Rock of Gibraltar, this year's crop of youngsters certainly get every chance to succeed on the race track. And the big names have certainly started well. Choisir has begun his first season in Australia in tremendous fashion. With Hurried Choice an impressive winner of the Gimcrack stakes, and stakes placed runs to both Maxisun and Choisism. Choisir has had 3 stakes placed winners or placegetters from only his first eight runners. Rock of Gibraltar, has also made a winning start, producing the first winner of the two-year-old season, Murtajill. A big strong colt out of the great mare Skating, Murtajill, looked extremely impressive in winning the Breeders Plate at Randwick recently. Ridden by Jim Cassidy, he rounded up the David Hayes trained Husson Lightning (Ex Hussonet) to score running away, and certainly looks headed for bigger things. Johannesburg surely has to be the "find" in the last 12 months. Currently leading both the US and European freshman lists to date, he has taken the two-year-old racing overseas by storm. He recently produced his first Group One winner in the US, when Scat Daddy won the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. He also produced his first Australian winner recently when Springboks saluted. Other stallions worth watching include the Lindsay Park based stallion Alannan, who's first runner was a winner, the multiple Group One winner Dash for Cash, and one of Queensland's favourite horses in recent times, Falvelon.  Murtajill - with juveniles like these winning early 2yo races, it's no wonder Rock of Gibraltar is one of the favourites to take out the first season sire award. Photo Credit: Steve Hart Photographics There is another unique association attached to the freshman sires this year. For the first time, the Australian racing public can wager on the outcome of the leading first season sire. Australia's leading betting organisation, Sportingbet, have this year produced a market on the leading sire by total individual number of winners. After opening at $4.60, there has been early support for Choisir, who is currently the $2.70 favourite. "We have been surprised at how much interest the betting on the first season sires table has created," Sportingbet CEO Michael O'Sullivan said. "There has been a wave of money for Choisir at Sportingbet, with punters backing him to be the first season sire to produce the most individual winners. The other one the punters fancy is Rock of Gibraltar - he is the second best supported stallion in the market so far".
With the winner being declared, not by total prizemoney, but by individual winners, something to keep in mind with this years market is the number of live foals each freshman sire has. The numbers for each sire are as follows - Johannesburg (120), Dash for Cash (118), Choisir (115), Rock of Gibraltar (107), Delago Brom (100), Hussonet (96), Bel Esprit (94) Falvelon (88) and Alannan (81). The other first season sires are headed by Elusive Quality with (68) and Invincible Spirit (31). As you can see, there is large difference in numbers between some of the leading charges. For example, Invincible Spirit has been supported right from the time the opening markets came out, being backed from $67 to $31. Yet he only has 31 live foals and would almost have to rate at 100%, (very unlikely) to be competitive with some of the stallions that have more than 100 live foals. It certainly highlights that the number of foals for each horse could be the "overlooked" section of this competition and something that should be considered when betting. With all that in mind, AAP have listed who we think will be the three stallions to fight out honours for the leading first season sire: Johannesburg - 2. Choisir - 3. Rock of Gibraltar. Written by Ben O'Brien, AAP Racing Crossword
Check answers here Click here to download a copy of the Racing Crossword Melbourne Cup Quiz Answers1.) 19882.) Three - 1993 - 1st, 1994 - 7th, 1995 - 3rd 3.) Rogan Josh 1999 4.) 1861 5.) Archer 1861-62, Peter Pan 1932-1934, Rain Lover 1968-69 and Think Big 1974-75, Makybe Diva 2003, 04 & 05 6.) David Hall 7.) Answer: Central Park - 2nd in 1999, Give the Slip - 2nd in 2001. 8.) Three 1929, 1930 and 1931. 9.) Answers: Piping Lane (1972), Arwon (1978) and Black Knight (1984) 10.) $3 Million dollars plus a trophy worth $80,000 Racing Crossword Answers
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